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Abaddon

Lieutenant
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If we have iron blood, vulcans have copper blood, why do andorians have blue blood..? Excess oxygen? I understand we have "blue bloods"... but it's not a good thing. It's there an lore on andorian physiology?
 
It could be copper-based. Octopuses have copper-based blue blood. What metals oxidize blue? Lead? Cobalt?
 
I'm not sure. Is curious though, I read after I posted this that there's a disorder that there's a genetic defect that can cause chocolate colored blood and blue skin. Something to do with hemoglobin and lack of oxygen. Not really the same thing I'm sure as andorians are supposed to have blue blood. Yet some have pink palates and some are a pale white. Perhaps this is one of those things that we have to chalk up to "TV logic".
 
It's a luxury when things like this really do hold up to scientific scrutiny.

I want to know how some races are much stronger than humans but with same weight. Or how Data has no apparent power source.
 
It's a luxury when things like this really do hold up to scientific scrutiny.

I want to know how some races are much stronger than humans but with same weight. Or how Data has no apparent power source.
I know what you mean. Same weight height humanoid body structure. .. while all coming from planets with vastly different atmospheres.
 
The majority of it is TV logic. But as far as what metal oxidizes blue, that would be copper. Thus, the Vulcans should actually have blue blood. It's never been stated what or how, but there is speculation that there is something else in Vulcan blood to make it the dark green we saw in Journey to Babel, with Spock's lighter green blood having human elements in it.

Interestingly, the fact that both the Vulcans and the Andorians potentially have copper-based blood could be one more element of the centuries of mistrust between them before the founding of the Federation.
 
In universe, there could simply be elements, conditions and/or biology that we don't know about (in the here and now).

Here's a wiki entry about how steel is "blued".
Hot Bluing is accomplished by immersing steel parts to be blued in a solution of potassium nitrate, sodium hydroxide, and water heated to the boiling point, 275 °F to 310 °F (135 °C to 154 °C) depending on the recipe.
 
The majority of it is TV logic. But as far as what metal oxidizes blue, that would be copper. Thus, the Vulcans should actually have blue blood. It's never been stated what or how, but there is speculation that there is something else in Vulcan blood to make it the dark green we saw in Journey to Babel, with Spock's lighter green blood having human elements in it.

Interestingly, the fact that both the Vulcans and the Andorians potentially have copper-based blood could be one more element of the centuries of mistrust between them before the founding of the Federation.
Interesting, I like this. Thank you.
 
The majority of it is TV logic. But as far as what metal oxidizes blue, that would be copper. Thus, the Vulcans should actually have blue blood. It's never been stated what or how, but there is speculation that there is something else in Vulcan blood to make it the dark green we saw in Journey to Babel, with Spock's lighter green blood having human elements in it.

Interestingly, the fact that both the Vulcans and the Andorians potentially have copper-based blood could be one more element of the centuries of mistrust between them before the founding of the Federation.

Copper oxidizes blue in octopuses, but within the logic of Star Trek it's green (like lots of copper patinas), that's why I figured that in-universe the explanation for Andorians would be some other metal.

What if the Andorians have aluminum-based blood? Aluminum oxides basically into sapphires. It's not as good at picking up oxygen as copper or iron, which might explain why Andorians, while physically hardy, tire quickly with aerobic exertion.
 
I Googled the search string: color metal oxidizes blood green blue red. That was the second result.
 
Not sure about his blood. But there was a guy in the news a few years ago that regularly ingested silver. And it made his skin dark blue. The doctor in the story said that otherwise the silver was harmless.
 
I want to know how some races are much stronger than humans but with same weight.

Well, chimps. There's no secret to it: more muscle, less fat. While muscle may be denser than fat, you can be 180 cm tall and weigh 100 kg either way - you're simply slimmer when muscular. The great apes are wiry things beneath that fur.

Or how Data has no apparent power source.

He says in ST:INS that his "power cells continually recharge themselves". It just happens to be a wireless power transfer system (no doubt a UFP-wide standard, the same that keeps all those PADDs charged). No fancy physics required: we could do that inside Data's dimensions today, and we could do that inside Data's weight limits soon enough.

So if Data was left in a desert where he had no wi-po and had to dig a ditch 24/7, he might eventually run out of juice. It's just that the episodes or movies have never featured such a situation.

Timo Saloniemi
 
It's a luxury when things like this really do hold up to scientific scrutiny.

I want to know how some races are much stronger than humans but with same weight. Or how Data has no apparent power source.
Do we know that their weights are the same? Maybe they weigh much more and are packed with heavy, dense muscle. Some could be from higher-gravity worlds Does the Klingon homeworld have higher gravity than earth? I'd bet not much more, as they are not so very much stronger than humans and humans appear to have no problem moving on their homeworld, eg Picard. Others may come from even higher-gravity worlds:

Mem Alpha has this about Vulcan:

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Vulcan_(planet)


Vulcan had a considerably higher gravity, thinner atmosphere, and higher temperatures than Earth. (ENT: "The Forge", "Awakening", "Kir'Shara"; TOS: "Amok Time")

Which makes some sense as Vulcans are much stronger than either humans or Klingons.
 
Do we know that their weights are the same? Maybe they weigh much more and are packed with heavy, dense muscle. Some could be from higher-gravity worlds Does the Klingon homeworld have higher gravity than earth? I'd bet not much more, as they are not so very much stronger than humans and humans appear to have no problem moving on their homeworld, eg Picard. Others may come from even higher-gravity worlds:

Mem Alpha has this about Vulcan:

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Vulcan_(planet)


Vulcan had a considerably higher gravity, thinner atmosphere, and higher temperatures than Earth. (ENT: "The Forge", "Awakening", "Kir'Shara"; TOS: "Amok Time")

Which makes some sense as Vulcans are much stronger than either humans or Klingons.
I agree with that you're saying about weight and density . Am still curious about overall size . If Vulcan as you say had a thinner atmosphere (thinner as in less oxygen/carbon dioxide? ) wouldn't they be smaller? Unless they thrive off of other gasses, since in our history when our atmosphere was more rich in oxygen our native species were much larger, dragonflies being the size of labrodors, etc. Although I suppose this can tie into density as well.
 
I agree with that you're saying about weight and density . Am still curious about overall size . If Vulcan as you say had a thinner atmosphere (thinner as in less oxygen/carbon dioxide? ) wouldn't they be smaller? Unless they thrive off of other gasses, since in our history when our atmosphere was more rich in oxygen our native species were much larger, dragonflies being the size of labrodors, etc. Although I suppose this can tie into density as well.

Arthropods like dragonflies have passive breathing systems--they don't have lungs, instead air diffuses passively through and down spiracles throughout a tracheal system in the animal's interior; oxygen is not pumped to tissues by the blood (although some insects have more muscular control over the spiracles than once believed, these systems still don't approach anything like the efficiency of lungs, blood oxygenation, and arteries delivering oxygenated blood to tissues). For them, the 15% difference in oxygen content between the Carboniferous atmosphere of about 300M years ago and the present allowed them and other arthropods to become relative giants. It didn't mean much to animals with active lung systems, eg the dinosaurs and marine reptiles. They just kept getting bigger and bigger, and we have many big, strong mammals and reptiles today.

I do love bugs though. :)
 
Arthropods like dragonflies have passive breathing systems--they don't have lungs, instead air diffuses passively through and down spiracles throughout a tracheal system in the animal's interior; oxygen is not pumped to tissues by the blood (although some insects have more muscular control over the spiracles than once believed, these systems still don't approach anything like the efficiency of lungs, blood oxygenation, and arteries delivering oxygenated blood to tissues). For them, the 15% difference in oxygen content between the Carboniferous atmosphere of about 300M years ago and the present allowed them and other arthropods to become relative giants. It didn't mean much to animals with active lung systems, eg the dinosaurs and marine reptiles. They just kept getting bigger and bigger, and we have many big, strong mammals and reptiles today.
Your responses are epic. I love it.
 
Well, chimps. There's no secret to it: more muscle, less fat. While muscle may be denser than fat, you can be 180 cm tall and weigh 100 kg either way - you're simply slimmer when muscular. The great apes are wiry things beneath that fur.

I've seen pictures of a shaved chimp. It looked like a young Shwarzenegger. Eep.
 
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